Author: LokMarg

A snow car racing event “Frozen Rush” was flagged off in Srinagar on Thursday. The ceremony was held in Sheri Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC).

Hundreds of participants attended the event organised with the help of Indian Army, local administration, and an adventure sports company.

The event was organised in order to encourage youth towards sports and adventure.

“Basically it’s a sport and a source of entertainment here. We keep on arranging events with the help of the government and local administration so that we can give a platform to the youth in the valley,” Farah Zaidi, chief of the organising committee of the event told ANI.

Meer Munib, a participant in the car racing event, expressed his happiness over the participation and said he wants to explore the unexplored in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are really happy for this event, we really want the motor adventure sports to grow. We want to explore the unexplored in our of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

The racers will show their performances on the high terrains of the snow-covered roads of Sonamarg on March 26 and March 27. (ANI)

India’s daily COVID-19 infections witnessed a dip since yesterday with 1,685 new cases being recorded on Friday.

As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 1,938 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Thursday.

The daily positivity rate and weekly positivity rate slightly declined to 0.24 per cent and 0.33 per cent on Friday from 0.29 per cent and 0.35 per cent on Thursday respectively.

Notably, the testing was increased to 6,91,425 in the last 24 hours from 6,61,954 tests on Thursday.

India’s active caseload currently stands at 21,530. It accounts for 0.05 per cent of the total positive cases. The active cases dipped by 897 since yesterday.

With 2,499 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the cumulative recoveries mounted to 4,24,78,087. The recovery rate remained constant at 98.75 per cent.

In the last 24 hours, 83 people succumbed to the virus. The country’s death toll is at 5,16,755. The case fatality rate is at 1.20 per cent.

Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 182.55 crore.

The ministry in a statement said that 1,82,55,75,126 vaccine doses have been administered to all categories of eligible beneficiaries, as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 2,16,22,613 sessions, it stated further.

In the COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 12-14 years, which started on March 16, 90,06,782 children have take the first dose of Corbevax vaccine.

‘Precaution dose’, whose identified beneficiaries include frontline workers, healthcare workers and those above the age of 60 years, have been given to 2,22,62,588 people so far. Of these, 43,98,383 were given to healthcare workers, 67,45,780 to frontline workers and 1,11,18,425 to people above the age of 60 years.

A total of 5,66,07,372 first doses and 3,66,29,914 second doses have been administered to children in the age group 15-18 years. They are being administered Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

The ministry in a statement also said that more than 184.12 crore (1,84,12,85,555) vaccine doses have been provided to States and Union Territories so far through the government’s free of cost channel and through direct state procurement category. Over 16.45 crore (16,45,41,016) balance and unutilized COVID vaccine doses are still available with the States and UTs to be administered, the ministry said. (ANI)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at Hyderabad House here on Friday for delegation-level talks.

Before meeting Jaishankar, the Chinese Foreign Minister visited National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s office in South Block.

The Chinese Foreign Minister arrived in New Delhi on Thursday. The key objective of Wang’s visit is to restart physical engagement and also invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi for BRICS meet to be hosted by Beijing later this year.

Before his India visit, the Chinese foreign minister attended the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Islamabad where he said, “On Kashmir, we have heard again today the calls of many of our Islamic friends. And China shares the same hope.”

However, India had rejected his remarks on Kashmir and said that other countries, including China, have no locus standi to comment on its internal affairs.

This is the first visit of a senior Chinese leader to India in two years since the border stand-off between the two countries since May 2020.

Last month, EAM Jaishankar had said that India’s relations with China are going through a “very difficult phase” after Beijing violated the border agreements and asserted that the “state of border will determine the state of the relationship”.

After the Galwan Valley clash, both countries have held several rounds of border talks to resolve the standoff. India has called for complete disengagement in eastern Ladakh at all friction points.

On March 11, the 15th round of Corps Commander level talks were held between the two countries on the Indian side of the Chushul-Moldo border point in which both sides agreed to maintain the security and stability along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector.

Last year in July, EAM Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Dushanbe, where he conveyed that that unilateral change of status quo of the border area is not acceptable to India. This was the second face-to-face talk between Jaishankar and Wang Yi since the stand-offs started in early May 2020 at the LAC.

Months after the Galwan Valley clash, Jaishankar held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on the sidelines of the SCO meeting in September 2020 to discuss developments in the India-China border areas as well as on India-China relations. (ANI)

With Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in New Delhi for an official visit, exiled Tibetans have called upon India to press Beijing to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

Tibetan Parliamentarians-in-exile also demanded that China should stop repressive policies in Tibet while expressing mixed reactions to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s India visit and the talks between the two countries.

“I would like to request the Government of India to raise Tibetan issues during the meeting with the Chinese foreign minister and also press for resumption of dialogue with his Holiness, the Dalai Lama. I would also like to ask the Chinese government to stop eradicating Tibetan identity and stop the repressive policies inside Tibet,” said Thubten Gyatso, a Tibetan member of Parliament.

Namgyal Dolkar, another member of the Tibetan Parliament in Dharamshala, said that Wang Yi is not welcome in a free and democratic country like India.

“I would say that Wang Yi is not welcome in a free and democratic country. His country is responsible for unabated repression of rights of the people in Tibet for a long time, besides China is also responsible for the deaths of so many Indian soldiers on the border…” he said.

However, Chodak Gyamtso, another Tibetan Parliamentarian, underlined the importance of the visit of the Chinese foreign minister, saying “it’s very important to have good and positive relations between two giant countries of Asia, and it’s also important to raise Tibet issue with both the sides.”

The Chinese Foreign Minister arrived in New Delhi on Thursday evening and is scheduled to hold talks today with the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar before leaving for Nepal for a three-day visit.

Wang’s Nepal visit will be his last stopover during the Chinese foreign minister’s travel to the South Asian countries, beginning with Pakistan on March 21 to attend the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) summit as a “special guest”. Wang held talks with Taliban representatives in Afghanistan on Thursday, followed by his arrival in New Delhi the same evening.

China in recent times has introduced a number of new measures to further curtail the rights of Tibetans, who have been living under the Chinese occupation for decades.

Recently, the Chinese authorities introduced a new code of conduct for members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Tibet that explicitly forbids party members from all forms of religiosity in public and private life.

Another new regulation called ‘Measures on the Administration of Internet Religious Informative Services’ which came into effect on March 1 bans all foreign organizations and individuals from spreading religious content online in China and Tibet except those who have acquired government licenses.

At the same time, China has also begun demolishing structures symbolizing Tibetan Buddhism including old statues and monasteries with at least three such demolitions taking place since December last year as per reports. (ANI)

As the total fertility rate – the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime- has rapidly decreased, South Korea’s population actually declined last year.

Seventeen per cent of the total population is aged 65 or older, accelerating the ageing population. In addition, the population of the metropolitan areas exceeded half of the total last year.

According to the ‘2021 Korea’s Social Indicators’ by Statistic Korea on March 24, Korea’s total population peaked at 51.84 million in 2020 and then showed a decrease to 51.75 million last year.

The total fertility rate last year was 0.81, down 0.03 year-on-year, hitting the lowest level for five consecutive years since 2017. Despite the government’s policies to increase fertility, the number of newborn babies has continued to decrease.

The number of deaths last year was 312,700, up 12,800 from the previous year. The crude death rate was 6.2, the highest since 1984 (5.9).

The average life expectancy of South Korean babies born in 2020 was 83.5 years, more than 0.2 years from than previous year. Compared to a decade ago (80.2), it increased 3.3 years. The healthy life expectancy was 66.3 years, up 1.9 years from two years ago. According to the report, cancer was the top cause of death last year, followed by heart disease, pneumonia, and cerebrovascular disease.

The number of people aged 65 and older increased 4.7 per cent year-on-year to 8.57 million last year, accounting for 16.6 per cent. Statistic Korea predicted that Korea will become a ‘super-aged society’ with more than 20 per cent of citizens 65 years or older in 2025.

The burden of supporting families is also increasing. The old-age dependency ratio – the number of elderly people compared to the number of people of working age – is expected to rapidly increase from 23.1 last year to 29.7 in 2025 and 60.5 in 2040. (ANI/Global Economic)

Days after Aam Aadmi Party won Punjab Assembly Elections, State Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

The Chief Minister is hopeful that people of Punjab will get the necessary support from the Central Government.

In a tweet today, the Chief Minister wrote, “I called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi today and discussed Punjab issues. I sincerely hope that the burning issues of Punjab will get the necessary support from the Central Government.”

Mann took the oath of office at Khatkar Kalan village in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district on March 16.

In the recently-concluded Punjab elections, the AAP registered a landslide victory, winning 92 seats, pushing the Congress party to distant second at 18 seats. (ANI)

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine on Thursday, with 140 countries voting in favour and five against.

A total of 38 countries including India abstained. Meanwhile, Russia, Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea and Syria voted against it.

“The General Assembly adopted a resolution that calls out Russia’s assault on Ukraine for creating a dire humanitarian situation, pushes for a humanitarian corridor, and demands that fighting stops. In favour: 140 Against: 5 Abstained: 38,” the UN News tweeted.

The resolution deplores the “humanitarian consequences” of Russia’s actions.

Earlier this, India had abstained from voting on a similar resolution against Russia at UNGA.

The UNGA had overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (ANI)

The United States on Thursday announced that it will accept up to 100,000 refugees fleeing from Ukraine and provide an extra USD 1 billion in humanitarian aid to those impacted by the war.

“The United States is announcing plans to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing Russia’s aggression through the full range of legal pathways, including the US Refugee Admissions Program,” the White House said in a statement.

It added that the USD 1 billion in extra aid “will provide food, shelter, clean water, medical supplies and other forms of assistance”.

“We are also announcing an additional USD 320 million in democracy and human rights funding to Ukraine and its neighbours,” the statement added.

Since 2021, the United States has provided over USD 1.1 billion in economic, health, democracy and human rights, and humanitarian assistance to the Europe and Eurasia region.

The US-funded humanitarian organizations are working in partnership with host governments to launch cash programs that provide refugees with temporary assistance for food, accommodations, and medical care until they can work or receive social support.

According to the White House, the Russia-Ukraine war threatens to disrupt the supply of critical agricultural commodities from the Black Sea region, jeopardizing global food security, particularly for vulnerable populations in the Middle East and Africa.

“The United States, through the Feed the Future initiative and our nutrition commitments, will be providing over USD 11 billion over the next five years to address food security threats and malnutrition across the globe – with programming in many of the countries vulnerable to increases in food and fertilizer prices,” it added. (ANI)

A 54-year old Christian man was arrested and beaten on blasphemy charges by Pakistani authorities on March 16, local media reported.

According to Safia Shahid, the wife of Fansan Shahid, cybercrime officials from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Gujranwala Circle raided their Lahore home shortly after midnight and took him into custody on allegations that he had made blasphemous comments in a post on Facebook in 2019, reported Morning Star News.

The agents seized Fansan Shahid’s phone, a photograph and his national identity card and put him into their vehicle, she said.

They told her they were taking him to Gujranwala city because the complaint against him had been registered by an Islamist cleric who is a resident of Sialkot District.

Safia Shahid said her husband lost his cellphone in 2019, reported Morning Star News.

“We believe that the lost phone was misused by someone to post the blasphemous comment, because my husband did not use a passcode for its security, and his Facebook account was also logged in,” she said.

When she met with her husband briefly in FIA custody in Gujranwala on Wednesday (March 17), he told her they had tortured him into confessing the alleged crime, she said.

Her husband has multiple health problems, and as blasphemy cases go on for years without a chance of bail, she said she was extremely worried about how her family would cope.

False accusations of blasphemy are common in Pakistan, often motivated by personal vendettas or religious hatred. The highly inflammatory accusations have the potential to spark mob lynchings, vigilante murders and mass protests.

Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country had the second-highest number of Christians killed for their faith, behind Nigeria, with 620 slain during the reporting period from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. Pakistan had the fourth-highest number of churches attacked or closed, with 183, and overall, reported Morning Star News. (ANI)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed concerns over the financial impact and financing sources of the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s relief package on electricity and petroleum prices.

The Dawn newspaper reported that the international body was left unconvinced by the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) government’s justifications for a recently announced amnesty scheme.

The Pakistani publication said the IMF’S mission and the Pakistan government authorities are unlikely to conclude the ongoing seventh review of the USD 6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) shortly.

The IMF staff mission raised more questions on the estimated impact of relief measures announced by the government and their financing guarantees, Dawn report said.

The newspaper said the mission was dissatisfied with the arguments advanced in favour of the money-whitening scheme for the industrial sector.

“We also reaffirm our commitment to not granting further tax amnesties (continuous structural benchmark) and avoiding the practice of issuing new preferential tax treatments or exemptions,” said Pakistan Finance Minister Tarin and State Bank Governor Dr Reza Baqir in a written undertaking.

Pakistani media reports said the discussion between the Pakistan government and IMF was originally targeted to be completed by March 14 but were extended as differences remained.

The discussions on the seventh review of the USD 6bn Extended Fund Facility started on March 4. The IMF had been concerned over the “one step forward, two steps back” approach of the government on critical reforms having serious budget implications, according to Dawn. (ANI)